System and method for providing enhanced answering services in a time-sensitive manner

ABSTRACT

A computing system of an answering service answers an incoming call from a calling party on behalf of a called party, and allows an agent to converse with the calling party. Contact with the called party is established while the incoming call from the calling party is still in progress, and a signal is received from the called party for the called party to monitor the incoming call without joining in. Upon detecting a disconnection of the monitored incoming call between the agent and the calling party, the called party is notified that the incoming call has ended and the agent and the called party are allowed to converse with each other over the called party call regarding the incoming call from the calling party.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/851,785, filed on Aug. 6, 2010, and entitled“System and Method for Providing Enhanced Answering Services in aTime-Sensitive Manner”, hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a business organization or the likethat provides answering services, such as answering services forprofessionals such as doctors, lawyers, funeral directors, servicingrepresentatives, and the like. More particularly, the present disclosurerelates to such a business organization that provides such answeringservices in an especially time-sensitive manner. Accordingly, a clientor the like calling a professional with an urgent matter is placed intocontact with the professional by the business organization/answeringservice as soon as possible.

BACKGROUND

In many business- or professional-related situations or the like, anage-old and recurring problem is effectuating contact between aprofessional or the like and a client or the like calling or otherwiseattempting to contact the professional. Perhaps ideally, the clientwould place a telephone call or the like to the professional, theprofessional would answer the placed telephone call instantaneously ifnot within a matter of moments, the desired contact would thus beestablished, and the caller and professional could communicate regardingsome matter of interest. Notably, however, most professionals are notalways available to answer all calls instantaneously or evenmomentarily. For example, the professional simply may not want to answercalls, such as for example if on a vacation or at a family event, amongother things, or the professional may be otherwise occupied byprofessional matters.

With regard to the latter case in particular, it may be that a doctormay be occupied by a medical matter and unavailable, or a lawyer may bein a legal conference from which she or he is not to be disturbed.Likewise, a funeral director may be attending to a first client while asecond client is calling. In such a particular situation as well asothers, it should be noted that not only is the funeral directorotherwise occupied by the first client, but the nature of the funeralbusiness is such that it would be considered to be particularlyinsensitive if not rude to answer the call from the second client whilestill attending to the first client.

Generally, it is to be recognized that a professional or the like maynot always be immediately available to answer a call from a client, beit to a landline telephone line or a mobile telephone line or to suchother communications device which may be available. As should beappreciated, such a situation can exist even when the client is callingregarding an urgent matter, such as a life-threatening matter or amatter that otherwise should be given immediate attention. Accordingly,it is known that such a professional may employ a business organizationthat provides answering services or the like (hereinafter, ‘an answeringservice’) to answer calls from clients when the professional is notimmediately available.

As should be understood, a call to the professional is forwardedtherefrom to the answering service by appropriate means when theprofessional is not available to answer such call or the like, and theanswering service may perform a range of answering duties on behalf ofthe professional. For example, upon answering the call on behalf of theprofessional, the answering service may let the caller know when theprofessional is scheduled to be available, or may collect information sothat the professional can return the call at an opportune time.Likewise, the answering service may perform an assessment regarding thenature of the call and based thereon may perform a range of actions.Thus, the answering service may determine that a relatively more seriousmatter requires more immediate action from the professional, in whichcase the answering service may attempt to contact the professional assoon as possible by appropriate means. Correspondingly, the answeringservice may determine that a relatively less serious matter requiresless immediate action from the professional, in which case the answeringservice may only create a message for the professional to be collectedthereby at a later time.

It is to be understood that in at least some professional situations, ananswering service acts not only to answer calls on behalf of aprofessional, but also acts as what likely is the first contact a callerencounters regarding a called professional. Thus, the answering servicemay in fact be the initial public face of the professional to thecaller, and if so may act to form the first impression by the caller ofthe professional. Put another way, if an initially calling caller istreated well by the answering service, and is otherwise made to feelcomfortable and impressed by the answering service, such an initiallycalling caller is more likely to continue with further efforts tocontact the professional and employ the goods and/or services of theprofessional. Conversely, if an initially calling caller is treatedpoorly by the answering service, or is otherwise made to feeluncomfortable or unimpressed by the answering service, such an initiallycalling caller may forego further efforts to contact the professional,and instead may call another professional.

The aforementioned funeral business or the like is especially relevantto such situation, in that a caller initially calling a funeral directoror the like probably or even likely has never previously contacted thatfuneral director, or any other funeral director for that matter, atleast on a professional basis. Moreover, such caller may have justsuffered a loss of a relative or friend and also may be in an especiallyprecarious frame of mind. Thus, and again, if the initially callingcaller is answered by an answering service on behalf of the funeraldirector, the answering service must take special care to treat thecaller with dignity, caring, and compassion, as is fitting and proper.Also, it is to be considered that the call from the caller to thefuneral director if properly handled likely will result in a relativelylarge monetary fee to the funeral director for funeral-related goods andservices. Thus, the answering service must take special care to ensurethat the caller is not dissuaded or otherwise given reason to seek suchfuneral-related goods and service elsewhere.

Particularly with regard to funeral directors and the special needsthereof as outlined above, funeral answering services and the like havebeen developed to focus on and address same. Moreover, it should beunderstood that such funeral answering services are employed not only byfuneral directors, but also by other funeral professionals that requiresimilar heightened levels of dignity, caring, and compassion in theiranswering service needs. Such other funeral professionals may forexample include funeral homes, cremation services, crematory facilities,cemetery and memorial parks, casket and coffin companies, liveryservices, trade embalmers, funeral transport services, coroners,monument companies, burial vault companies, grief and bereavementcounselors, body and tissue donation services, pet cremation, burial andcemetery services, and the like.

Typically, upon a funeral business engaging an answering service toanswer calls to the funeral business, the answering service engages theservices of one or more telephone service providers or the like toeffectuate forwarding of telephone calls or the like from the businessto the answering service, particularly in a manner deemed necessaryand/or advisable by the business. Such engaging and such forwardingservices are generally known and need not be set forth herein in anydetail other than that which is provided. Generally, the forwarding mayoccur on any appropriate basis, including the time of day, whetherforwarding has been positively engaged or disengaged, whether thebusiness has selected a particular call for forwarding, whether a callhas rung a predetermined number of times, whether a phone or phonesystem of the business is off, or the like.

Notably, the answering service may answer a call on behalf of aparticular funeral business according to a predetermined procedure or‘script’ that has been established for the particular funeral business.As may be appreciated, the script can be quite involved, and can tend tocover a wide range of subjects, including the name and location of thedeceased, the name, location, and telephone number of the caller,whether the caller is a family member or friend or a staff member at anursing home or hospital or the like, where and when the funeral is tobe performed, where and when burial or cremation is to be performed,required clergy, directions to establishments, parking availability andneeds, handicap accessibility, available local florists and flowerdelivery services, and the like. In fact, such scripts can accommodate awide range of scenarios and needs, and therefore can be quite extensive.Importantly, with the use of such a script, information can be collectedfrom the caller according to the script and entered into an appropriatedatabase or the like for later retrieval and use, as is generally known.

In the prior art, the answering service would, based on such a script,collect all information as dictated according to the script, and thenwould terminate the call from the caller, of course with appropriatedignity and consolation, as well as with an assurance that the funeraldirector/funeral business/funeral professional (hereinafter, ‘funeralprofessional’) would return the call. Notably, the answering servicewould then attempt to contact the funeral professional, but only uponthe call being terminated. Typically, although by no means necessarily,the funeral professional can be contacted by way of a predeterminedmobile telephone line, landline telephone line, pager, mobile electronicmail device, desktop electronic mail device, mobile electronic textingdevice, desktop electronic texting device, or a combination thereof, orthe like.

Waiting until a call from a caller is terminated to contact the funeralprofessional may be considered to be advantageous in that the answeringservice has collected a goodly amount of information on behalf of thefuneral professional, and such information may then be forwarded to thefuneral professional as a single package that may be in a more-or-lesscomplete form. For example, the information may be forwarded as anelectronic message to one or more of the aforementioned electronicdevices of the funeral professional, at about when the call isterminated, when the funeral professional is actually contacted by theanswering service, or the like. Alternately, if the funeral professionalis contacted by the answering service by telephonic means, suchinformation can be orally transmitted to the funeral professional. Note,though, that such oral transmission is prone to errors and can takequite some time if the information is relatively large.

Significantly, though, waiting until a call from a caller is terminatedto contact the funeral professional is disadvantageous in that thecaller, who again likely has just suffered a loss of a relative orfriend and also likely is in an especially precarious frame of mind,would very much prefer to speak directly to the funeral professionalrather than an answering service. Put plainly, the typical grievingcaller prefers and even expects to speak directly to the funeralprofessional as soon as possible to ensure that the funeral process asperformed by such funeral professional is expeditiously begun. Perhapsmore importantly, the typical grieving caller also prefers and evenexpects to speak directly to the funeral professional as soon aspossible in order to receive the psychological comforting that thefuneral professional provides and has been trained to provide. Afterall, some of the most important functions the funeral professionalperforms are to help those who are still alive grieve the loss of thedeceased.

Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for providingenhanced answering services in a time-sensitive manner, particularlywhere the answering services are funereal in nature. In particular, aneed exists for such a system and method where, upon recognizing thatthe caller is a funeral caller requiring professional services of afuneral professional for a deceased, contact with the funeralprofessional is automatically initiated, even before the call has beenterminated. Further, a need exists for such a system and method where,upon establishing a connection with the funeral professional, thefuneral professional can be introduced into the call while ongoing andcan take over the call, the better to be able to directly comfort thegrieving caller and also the better to be able to directly collect anyadditional information needed.

SUMMARY

The aforementioned needs are satisfied by a system and method performedby an answering service on behalf of a called party when a calling partyplaces an incoming call to the called party and the called party isunable or unwilling to answer the incoming call directly. A computingsystem of the answering service answers the incoming call from thecalling party on behalf of the called party by way of a first callconnection, and allows an agent to converse with the calling party.Contact with the called party is established while the incoming callfrom the calling party is still in progress, and a signal is receivedfrom the called party for the called party to monitor the incoming callwithout joining in. Upon detecting a disconnection of the monitoredincoming call between the agent and the calling party, the called partyis notified that the incoming call has ended and the agent and thecalled party are allowed to converse with each other over the calledparty call regarding the incoming call from the calling party.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary as well as the following detailed description ofvarious embodiments of the present innovation will be better understoodwhen read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose ofillustrating the various embodiments of the innovation, there are shownin the drawings embodiments that are presently preferred. As should beunderstood, however, the innovation is not limited to the precisearrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a computing environmentwithin which various embodiments of the present innovation may beimplemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a professional answering serviceprovided to answer calls or the like from clients to professionals orthe like in the event that the professionals are not willing or able toanswer the calls;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computing system employed to answer acall from the client of FIG. 2 to the funeral professional of FIG. 2 asforwarded to the answering service of FIG. 2 in accordance with variousembodiments of the present innovation; and

FIGS. 4-8 are flow diagrams showing actions performed by the computingsystem of FIG. 3 in accordance with various embodiments of the presentinnovation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Certain terminology may be used in the following description forconvenience only and is not limiting. The words “lower” and “upper” and“top” and “bottom” designate directions in the drawings to whichreference is made. The terminology includes the words above specificallymentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.

Where a term is provided in the singular, the inventors also contemplateaspects of the invention described by the plural of that term. As usedin this specification and in the appended claims, the singular forms“a”, “an” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearlydictates otherwise, e.g., “a tip” includes a plurality of tips. Thus,for example, a reference to “a method” includes one or more methods,and/or steps of the type described herein and/or which will becomeapparent to those persons skilled in the art upon reading thisdisclosure.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods,constructs and materials are now described. All publications mentionedherein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Wherethere are discrepancies in terms and definitions used in references thatare incorporated by reference, the terms used in this application shallhave the definitions given herein.

Example Computing Environment

FIG. 1 is set forth herein as an exemplary computing environment inwhich various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.The computing system environment is only one example of a suitablecomputing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation asto the scope of use or functionality. Numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations may beused. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use include, but are not limitedto, personal computers (PCs), server computers, handheld or laptopdevices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based systems, networkPCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, embedded systems, distributedcomputing environments that include any of the above systems or devices,and the like.

Computer-executable instructions such as program modules executed by acomputer may be used. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Distributed computing environments may be used where tasks are performedby remote processing devices that are linked through a communicationsnetwork or other data transmission medium. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules and other data may be located in both localand remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing aspectsdescribed herein includes a computing device, such as computing device100. In its most basic configuration, computing device 100 typicallyincludes at least one processing unit 102 and memory 104. Depending onthe exact configuration and type of computing device, memory 104 may bevolatile (such as random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile (such asread-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.), or some combination of thetwo. This most basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1 by dashedline 106. Computing device 100 may have additional features andfunctionality. For example, computing device 100 may include additionalstorage (removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to,magnetic or optical disks or tape. Such additional storage isillustrated in FIG. 1 by removable storage 108 and non-removable storage110.

Computing device 100 typically includes or is provided with a variety ofcomputer-readable hardware media. Computer-readable media can be anyavailable media that can be accessed by computing device 100 andincludes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable andnon-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation,computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media andcommunication media.

Computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storageof information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. Memory 104, removable storage 108, andnon-removable storage 110 are all examples of computer storage media.Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM,electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othercomputer-readable hardware medium which can be used to store the desiredinformation and which can accessed by computing device 100. Any suchcomputer storage media may be part of computing device 100.

Computing device 100 may also contain communications connection(s) 112that allow the device to communicate with other devices 100. Each suchcommunications connection 112 is an example of communication media.Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated datasignal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includesany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection (including VoIP), and wirelessmedia such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared and otherwireless media. The term computer-readable media as used herein includesboth storage media and communication media.

Computing device 100 may also have input device(s) 114 such as keyboard,mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Outputdevice(s) 116 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. may also beincluded. All these devices are generally known to the relevant publicand therefore need not be discussed in any detail herein except asprovided.

Notably, computing device 100 may be one of a plurality of computingdevices 100 inter-connected by a network 118, as is shown in FIG. 1. Asmay be appreciated, the network 118 may be any appropriate network, eachcomputing device 100 may be connected thereto by way of a connection 112in any appropriate manner, and each computing device 100 may communicatewith one or more of the other computing devices 100 in the network 118in any appropriate manner. For example, the network 118 may be a wiredor wireless network within an organization or home or the like, and mayinclude a direct or indirect coupling to an external network such as theInternet or the like. Likewise, the network 118 may be such an externalnetwork.

Particularly in the case where the network 118 is an external network,such network 118 may be a digitally based network (including VoIP) forexchanging computer data among the devices 100, may be an audio and/orvideo network for exchanging audio and/or video data among the devices100, or the like. Thus, it may be that the network 118 may be a publicswitched telephone network for landline telephone communications, amobile switching center for wireless telephone communications, a pagingnetwork for distributing paging information, a private multimedianetwork for establishing videoconferencing, or the like. Thus, it shouldbe appreciated, that one or more of the computing devices 100 that areshown to the left of the network 118 in FIG. 1 may be a mobiletelephone, a landline telephone, a pager, a mobile electronic maildevice, a desktop electronic mail device, a mobile electronic textingdevice, a desktop electronic texting device, or a combination thereof,or the like.

It should be understood that the various techniques described herein maybe implemented in connection with hardware or software or, whereappropriate, with a combination of both. Thus, the methods and apparatusof the presently disclosed subject matter, or certain aspects orportions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions)embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, harddrives, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when theprogram code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as acomputer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the presentlydisclosed subject matter.

In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, thecomputing device generally includes a processor, a storage mediumreadable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memoryand/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least oneoutput device. One or more programs may implement or utilize theprocesses described in connection with the presently disclosed subjectmatter, e.g., through the use of an application-program interface (API),reusable controls, or the like. Such programs may be implemented in ahigh-level procedural or object-oriented programming language tocommunicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) can beimplemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case,the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combinedwith hardware implementations.

Although exemplary embodiments may refer to utilizing aspects of thepresently disclosed subject matter in the context of one or morestand-alone computer systems, the subject matter is not so limited, butrather may be implemented in connection with any computing environment,such as a network 118 or a distributed computing environment. Stillfurther, aspects of the presently disclosed subject matter may beimplemented in or across a plurality of processing chips or devices, andstorage may similarly be effected across a plurality of devices in anetwork 118. Such devices might include personal computers, networkservers, and handheld devices, for example.

Professional Answering Service

Turning now to FIG. 2, it is seen that a professional answering service10 is provided to answer each of one or more calls or the like from eachof one or more clients 12 or the like to each of one or moreprofessionals 14 or the like in the event that a particular professional14 is not willing or able to answer a particular call from a particularclient 12. Typically, although not necessarily, the answering service 10is operated by a business organization that provides answering servicesor the like on behalf of multiple professionals 14. As was alluded toabove, each client 12 and each professional 14 may be any appropriaterespective client and professional without departing from the spirit andscope of the present innovation. Thus it may be that a particularprofessional 14 is a doctor, a lawyer, a service professional, a funeraldirector, or the like, among other things, and a particular client 12calling to the professional 14 may require the professional servicesthereof, perhaps on an urgent basis.

Likewise, the reason why the professional 14 does not answer aparticular call may be most any reason without departing from the spiritand scope of the present innovation. For example, the professional 14simply may not want to answer calls, such as for example if on avacation or at a family event, among other things, or the professional14 may be otherwise occupied by professional matters.

Presumptively, the call to the professional 14 from the client 12 is ofa telephonic nature, at least for purposes of disclosing the presentinnovation in the present disclosure. Thus, it may be that the client 12is employing a landline telephone or a mobile telephone (a device 100 ofFIG. 1, e.g.), and is calling to a landline telephone or mobiletelephone of the professional 14 (also a device 100 of FIG. 1, e.g.).Notably, though, the call to the professional 14 from the client 12could be of some other nature without departing from the spirit andscope of the present innovation. For example, it may be that the client12 is employing a digital electronic mail device or a digital textingdevice (again, a device 100 of FIG. 1, e.g.), and is addressing adigital electronic mail device or a digital texting device (once again,a device 100 of FIG. 1, e.g.) of the professional 14.

Particularly in the case where the call is telephonic in nature, and asseen in FIG. 2, the call from the client 12 to the professional 14 isforwarded therefrom to the answering service 10 by appropriate meansthat have already been established in a generally known manner.Typically, and as was alluded to above, upon the professional 14engaging the answering service 10 to answer calls on behalf of suchprofessional 14, the answering service 10 communicates with one or moretelephone service providers or the like to effectuate such forwarding.As should be understood, the forwarding may be performed according toany appropriate basis, including the time of day, whether forwarding hasbeen positively engaged or disengaged, whether the business has selecteda particular call for forwarding, whether a call has rung apredetermined number of times, whether a phone or phone system of thebusiness is off, or the like. In any case, the call from the client 12to the professional 14 is in fact answered by the answering service 10on behalf of the professional 14.

Funeral Professional

Although the professional 14 of the present innovation may be most anyprofessional, it is to be appreciated that the present innovation hasspecial relevance to funeral professionals 14, including not onlyfuneral directors but also related professionals and services such asfuneral homes, cremation services, crematory facilities, cemetery andmemorial parks, casket and coffin companies, livery services, tradeembalmers, funeral transport services, coroners, monument companies,burial vault companies, grief and bereavement counselors, body andtissue donation services, pet cremation, burial and cemetery services,and the like. Notably, such funeral professionals 14 share a common needfor a heightened level of dignity, caring, and compassion in connectionwith the services provided thereby to a client 12, as well as theservices provided on their behalf to the client 12 by the answeringservice 10.

For example, a funeral director attending to a first client 12 isexpected to devote an especially heightened level of care and compassionto such first client 12, even when a second client 12 is calling suchfuneral director. Nevertheless, the second client 12 also should expectthe same heightened level of care and compassion. Thus, the dilemma iswhether to interrupt the first client 12 to answer the second client 12,or to ignore the second client 12, either of which may be considered tobe particularly insensitive if not rude. Moreover, the dilemma may becompounded in the case where the second client 12 is an initial callerinitially calling regarding obtaining funeral services for a deceased,and ignoring same would result in the second client 12 obtaining funeralservices elsewhere, thus representing a substantial monetary loss to thefuneral professional 14.

In such an instance, the answering service 10 in answering the call fromthe initially calling second client 12 on behalf of the funeralprofessional 14 allows same to at least somewhat satisfy the needs ofthe second client 12 for the moment, and helps to prevent the secondclient 12 from obtaining funeral services elsewhere. More generally, theanswering service 10 can very likely be the first contact any client 12encounters regarding the called funeral professional 14, and in so doingis the initial public face of the funeral professional 14 to such client12 and acts to form the first impression by the client 12 of the funeralprofessional 14. Thus, the funeral professional 14 should expect if notrequire that the answering service 10 treat each calling client 12 well,and otherwise make such client 12 feel comfortable and impressed by theanswering service 10, so that the calling client 12 is more likely tocontinue with further efforts to contact the funeral professional 14 andemploy the services thereof.

As might be appreciated, performing such a task is especially difficultfor the answering service 10 if the calling client 12 has just suffereda loss of a relative or friend and is therefore in an especiallyprecarious frame of mind. Accordingly, the answering service 10 may beexpected to employ especially well-trained agents to answer calls fromclients 12 to funeral professionals 14, where the agents are selectedbased at least in part on being compassionate, caring, soothing, andattentive, among other things.

Nevertheless, it is especially important to remember that a callingclient 12 and especially a client 12 initially calling regarding adeceased wishes to speak directly to the funeral professional 14 as soonas possible. In particular, and as was alluded to above, no matter howwell-trained the agents may be at the answering service 10, the callingclient 12 may have just suffered a loss of a relative or friend and alsomay be in an especially precarious frame of mind, and would very muchprefer to speak as soon as possible with the funeral professional 14rather than an answering service 10, both to ensure that the funeralprocess as performed by such funeral professional 14 is expeditiouslybegun, and also to receive the psychological comforting that the funeralprofessional 14 provides and has been trained to provide.

Time-Sensitive Answering Service

Accordingly, and turning now to FIG. 3, it is seen that in variousembodiments of the present innovation, a call from a client 12 to afuneral professional 14 as forwarded to an answering service 10 isanswered by an individual agent associated with the answering service 10with the use of a computing system 16 instantiated by or on behalf ofthe answering service 10. Notably, such a computing system 16 asinstantiated includes a mechanism for initiating contact with thefuneral professional 14 as soon as the agent thereof who is answeringthe call determines that the calling client 12 is initially callingregarding a deceased or other urgent matter.

As seen in FIG. 3, the computing system 16 is in the nature of thecomputing device 100 on the top part of FIG. 1. Here, it is to beappreciated that the computing system 16 may among other things includea first telephone connection 18 or the like for receiving the forwardedcall from the client 10, a display 20 or the like upon which is shownvarious items, a second telephone connection 22 or the like for outgoingcalls and automated voicemail dispatch or the like, and a dataconnection 24 or the like for outgoing data messages or the like,perhaps in the nature of electronic mail or a text message as will beset forth in more detail below.

As was noted above, the agent at the computing system 16 of theanswering service 10 may answer a particular forwarded call from aclient 10 on behalf of a particular funeral professional 14 according toa predetermined procedure or ‘script 26’ that has been established forthe particular funeral professional 14. Accordingly, and now referringalso to FIG. 4, as an initial matter the particular call is received onthe first telephone connection 18 of the computing system 16 (401, FIG.4), is identified by the system 16 as being for a particular funeralprofessional 14 (403), and based thereon the system 16 obtains and runsthe corresponding script 26 (405), perhaps from a local or remotedatabase 28 (FIG. 3). As may be appreciated, the system may identify theparticular funeral professional 14 for the forwarded call as at 403 inany appropriate manner, such as for example based on a caller ID, DNIS(Dialed Number Identification System), or other information associatedwith the forwarded call. Such identifying is known or should be apparentto the relevant public and therefore need not be set forth herein in anydetail other than that which is provided.

As may be appreciated, the obtained and run script 26 as at 405 is in anelectronic form, and may have any appropriate structure. Typically,although not necessarily, the script 26 includes a number of questionsthat are displayed on the display 20 of the computing system 16, theagent asks the questions to the calling client 12 and enterscorresponding answers into appropriate pre-defined spaces in the display20, and the entered answers can be stored in a record of appropriateform in the database 28 or elsewhere. As should be understood, thequestions and answers relate to ferreting out the purpose of the callfrom the calling client 12.

The questions may be displayed and the answers collected individually orin groups, and the script 26 may include branching points wheredifferent answers to a previous question result in different nextquestions, among other things. As was alluded to above, the script 26can be quite extensive so as to accommodate a wide range of subjects,including the general nature of the call, the name and location of thedeceased, the name, location, and telephone number of the calling client12, whether the calling client 12 is a family member or friend or astaff member at a nursing home or hospital or the like, whether serviceshave been prearranged, personal information on the deceased includingdate of birth, date and time of death, the name and telephone number ofany attending doctor, required clergy, directions to establishments,parking availability and needs, handicap accessibility, available localflorists and flower delivery services, and the like. Note here that atleast some of such information can possibly be collected automatically.For example, the name, location, and telephone number of the callingclient 12 may be obtained from known sources such as caller ID or othersimilar information. In such a circumstance, it may be that thecorresponding question is automatically skipped, or that the informationis confirmed by the agent.

As was noted above, the agent could, based on such a script 26, collectall information as dictated according to the script 26, and then couldterminate the call from the calling client 12, and then could attempt tocontact the funeral professional 14 after the call is terminated. Asshould be understood, the funeral professional 14 typically can becontacted by way of a predetermined mobile telephone line, landlinetelephone line, pager, mobile electronic mail device, desktop electronicmail device, mobile electronic texting device, desktop electronictexting device, or a combination thereof, or the like. Upon contactingthe funeral professional 14 or as part of contacting the funeralprofessional 14, then, the agent would transmit thereto at least some ofthe corresponding record in the database 26 so that the funeralprofessional 14 could call back the calling client 12. Such transmittingmay be performed orally if over a telephone line or the like, orelectronically if by way of an electronic message or the like. Ifelectronically, a return receipt may be required to confirm that thefuneral professional 14 has received the transmission.

However, and as was pointed out above, waiting until the call isterminated to contact the funeral professional 14 is disadvantageous inthat the calling client 12 is made to wait to speak directly to thefuneral professional 14, which is likely preferred. Also, the callingclient 12 while being made to wait may have second thoughts aboutengaging the services of the funeral professional 14, and instead maydecide to seek such services elsewhere.

Accordingly, and in various embodiments of the present innovation, whilethe corresponding script is being run as at 405, during which questionsare displayed to the agent on the display 20 and answers are collectedand stored in the database 28, the agent is also given an option to havethe computing system 16 immediately commence contacting the funeralprofessional 14 at any triggering point when the agent determines thatthe calling client 12 is initially calling regarding a deceased (409).As may be appreciated, the agent may determine that a calling client 12is initially calling regarding a deceased in any appropriate mannerwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present innovation,perhaps with guidance if not training and instructions from theanswering service 10.

Nevertheless, it may be expected that such a calling client 12 initiallycalling regarding a deceased is a caller who has not previously calledregarding a particular deceased and is therefore calling to initiate theuse of funeral services provided by the called-to funeral professional14 with regard to such particular deceased, or at least to inquireregarding such use. Perhaps parenthetically, it may also be expectedthat in at least some instances the calling client 12 is not especiallyclear that same is in fact initially calling regarding a deceased, forexample in cases where the calling client 12 is distraught or overcomewith grief, or in cases where the calling client 12 is suffering fromother diminished mental capacity. Thus, the training of the agent mayfocus on such aspects in particular when deciding whether the callingclient 12 is in fact initially calling regarding a deceased.

In various embodiments of the present innovation, and as seen in FIG. 3,the option to commence contacting the funeral professional is providedby way of an actuation device 30 on the display 20, which may be abutton labeled ‘Get Funeral Professional Now’ or the like. Thus, suchactuation device 30 is actuated by the agent (407) by way of a displayedcursor and associated mouse, by way of touching if the display 20 is atouch display, by way of a keystroke or keystroke sequence on anassociated keyboard of the computing system 16, or the like.Alternately, the actuation device 30 may be separate from the display20, and in particular may be hardware on an associated keyboard of thecomputing system 16 or some other related structure, and/or softwareactuated by such software.

Upon the agent actuating the actuation device 30 as at 407 and thecomputing system receiving same as at 409, and in various embodiments ofthe present innovation, the computing system 16 initiates contact withthe funeral professional 14 immediately, or at least as soon as ispracticable, while the incoming call from the calling client 12(hereinafter, ‘the deceased call’) is still in progress (411). That isto say, the contact is initiated prior to the agent reaching the end ofthe script. Thus, in the meantime, the computing system may continuerunning the script as at 405 so that the agent can continue gatheringinformation from the calling client 12.

As may be appreciated, the method of contact employed by the system 16as at 411 may be any appropriate method, and may be set forth in thecorresponding script 26 or a related document from the database 28 orthe like. As presently envisioned, the method of contact may involve atelephone number of the funeral professional 14 (perhaps associated witha mobile telephone of the funeral professional 14), in which case thecomputing system 16 automatically calls to such telephone number by wayof the second telephone connection 22 while the deceased call is stillin progress (FIG. 3) (413), or may involve an electronic mail or textaddress of the funeral professional 14 (perhaps associated with a pager,a personal data assistant, or the like of the funeral professional 14),in which case the computing system 16 automatically sends an electronicmail message or a text message to such address by way of the dataconnection 24, again while the deceased call is still in progress (FIG.3) (415), or may involve both.

If the computing system 16 automatically sends an electronic mailmessage or a text message to an address of the funeral professional 14by way of the data connection 24 (FIG. 3) (415), and turning now to FIG.5, it may be that the automatically sent message includes some or all ofthe information thus far gathered by the agent from the calling client12 according to the corresponding script 26 (501). Additionally, it maybe that the sent message includes an appropriate message header to beinitially seen by the funeral professional 14, such as for example thatthe deceased call is in progress, and perhaps other information (503).In various embodiments of the present innovation, the sent message alsoincludes a call-back telephone number by which the funeral professional14 can call in by way of the second telephone connection 22(hereinafter, ‘the call-back call’), and if need be a call identifierthat may be needed to identify the deceased call (505). Note here thatincluding such a call-back telephone number and/or such a callidentifier may not be necessary if, for example, the funeralprofessional 14 has a dedicated call-back telephone number, in whichcase the computing system 16 can recognize the funeral professional 14thereby. However, such a call identifier in particular may be needed ifit is anticipated that the funeral professional 14 would be involved inseveral deceased calls simultaneously.

As should be appreciated, with the call-back telephone number andperhaps the call identifier, the funeral professional 14 may theninitiate the call-back call, which would then be received and answeredby the computing system 16 by way of the second telephone connection 22(507). The computing system 16 identifies the funeral professional 14 onthe call-back call to the deceased call by appropriate means and, invarious embodiments of the present innovation, gives the funeralprofessional 14 the option to decide whether to join in at all, orperhaps to merely monitor the deceased call without joining in (509).Such an option to monitor may be implemented by way of a vocalized menusystem or the like, as may be appreciated. As may be appreciated,despite the great sensitivity and compassion required, there are alsotimes when the funeral professional 14 knows that immediate involvementis not needed and/or advisable. For example, it may be that the deceasedcall was expected and plans have already been made to address same,among other things.

Presuming, however, that the funeral professional 14 does in fact wishto join in to the deceased call, and in various embodiments, thecomputing system 16 communicatively couples the deceased call and thecall-back call (hereinafter, ‘the coupled call’ (511) in a manner thatis generally known, perhaps with a corresponding appropriate vocalizedmessage to the funeral professional 14. However, in doing so, thecomputing system 16 initially places the call-back call in a mute modeso that the funeral professional 14 can hear the deceased call butcannot be heard in the deceased call (513). Thus, the funeralprofessional 14 on the call-back call can listen to the deceased callwhile in progress by way of the coupled call, and is not suddenly andperhaps jarringly present in such deceased call. In addition, thecomputing system 16 notifies the agent that the call-back call is inprogress (515), perhaps by way of an appropriate highlighted button or amessage in the display 20 (FIG. 3). Thus, the agent can then notify thecalling client 12 that the funeral professional 14 may be currentlyavailable to speak with such calling client 12.

It may be that the agent thereafter removes the mute mode from thecall-back call to allow the calling client 14 and funeral professional14 to speak directly by way of the coupled call (519), again perhaps byway of appropriate highlighted buttons in the display 20 (FIG. 3).However, the agent has already gathered information which may be ofimmediate interest to the funeral professional 14 based on the questionsand answers from the aforementioned script 26. Thus, it may be thatprior to removing the aforementioned mute mode, the agent politelyplaces the deceased call on hold when appropriate (517), once moreperhaps by way of an appropriate highlighted button in the display 20(FIG. 3), then removes such mute mode from the call-back call as at 519,consults with the funeral professional 14 regarding the status of thedeceased call and any gathered information not yet delivered to thefuneral professional 14 (521), then removes the hold on the deceasedcall, still once more perhaps by way of an appropriate highlightedbutton in the display 20 (FIG. 3), introduces the calling client 12 andthe funeral professional 14 to each other, and allows both to speakdirectly to each other by way of the coupled call (523).

Notably, by giving the gathered information thereof to the funeralprofessional 14 as at 501 and 521, the calling client 12 need not repeatsame. Moreover, the funeral professional 14 with such information canproceed to comfort the calling client 12 that much more quickly inasmuchas the administrative details may have already been dealt with andcommunicated to the funeral professional 14. Also notably, once thecalling client 12 and the funeral professional 14 are introduced to eachother and speaking by way of the coupled call, the agent need notnecessarily be involved in either the deceased call or the call-backcall, and therefore may disconnect out of the coupled call, still oncemore again perhaps by way of an appropriate highlighted button in thedisplay 20. Alternately, the agent can stay in the coupled call to takenotes on behalf of the funeral professional 14, and can then deliver thenotes to such funeral professional 14, perhaps by way of an electronicmail or text message or the like.

If the computing system 16 automatically calls to a telephone number ofthe funeral professional 14 by way of the second telephone connection 22as at 413 of FIG. 4, the process is similar to that of FIG. 5. Inparticular, and turning now to FIG. 6, it may also be that the automaticcall includes some or all of the information thus far gathered by theagent from the calling client 12 according to the corresponding script26 (601), although such information would likely be abbreviated due tothe oral nature of the telephone. Note here that some of suchinformation may be included with caller ID information that is providedwith the automatic call. Here, no call-back telephone number or callidentifier would be needed as the computing system 16 initiated theoutgoing call out to the funeral professional 14 by way of the secondtelephone connection 22 (hereinafter, ‘the call-out call’).

Upon the funeral professional 14 receiving the call-out call andreceiving the information at 601, such funeral professional 14 may thenbe given the option to decide whether to join in at all or perhaps tomerely monitor the deceased call without joining in as before at 509(603). Thus, the computing system 16 would receive a selected optionfrom the funeral professional 14 and act accordingly in a manner thatshould be understood. Presuming, again that the funeral professional 14does in fact wish to join in to the deceased call, and in variousembodiments, the computing system 16 communicatively couples thedeceased call and the call-out call (hereinafter, ‘the coupled call’ ina manner similar to that of 511 (605). As before, the computing system16 initially places the call-out call in a mute mode so that the funeralprofessional 14 can hear the deceased call but cannot be heard in thedeceased call (607). Thus, and again, the funeral professional 14 on thecall-out call can listen to the deceased call while in progress by wayof the coupled call, and is not suddenly and perhaps jarringly presentin such deceased call. As with 515, the computing system 16 alsonotifies the agent that the call-out call is in progress (609), perhapsby way of an appropriate highlighted button or a message in the display20 (FIG. 3). Thus, the agent can likewise notify the calling client 12that the funeral professional 14 may be currently available to speakwith such calling client 12.

Similar to before, it may be that the agent thereafter removes the mutemode from the call-out call to allow the calling client 14 and funeralprofessional 14 to speak directly by way of the coupled call (613),again perhaps by way of appropriate highlighted buttons in the display20 (FIG. 3). However, and again, the agent has already gatheredinformation which may be of immediate interest to the funeralprofessional 14 based on the questions and answers from theaforementioned script 26. In the telephone case of FIG. 6, however, itis likely that the funeral professional 14 has not had much if anyinformation provided as yet, and accordingly it is more likely that theagent must spend some time delivering such information to the funeralprofessional 14. Accordingly, prior to removing the aforementioned mutemode, the agent politely places the deceased call on hold whenappropriate (611), once more perhaps by way of an appropriatehighlighted button in the display 20 (FIG. 3), then removes such mutemode from the call-out call as at 613, consults with the funeralprofessional 14 regarding the status of the deceased call and thegathered information not yet delivered to the funeral professional 14(615), then removes the hold on the deceased call, still once moreperhaps by way of an appropriate highlighted button in the display 20(FIG. 3), introduces the calling client 12 and the funeral professional14 to each other, and allows both to speak directly to each other by wayof the coupled call (617).

Once more, by giving the gathered information thereof to the funeralprofessional 14 as at 601 and 615, the calling client 12 need not repeatsame. Also, once the calling client 12 and the funeral professional 14are introduced to each other and speaking by way of the coupled call,the agent need not necessarily be involved in either the deceased callor the call-out call, and therefore may disconnect out of the coupledcall, still once more again perhaps by way of an appropriate highlightedbutton in the display 20. Alternately, the agent can again stay in thecoupled call to take notes on behalf of the funeral professional 14, andcan then deliver the notes to such funeral professional 14, perhaps byway of an electronic mail or text message or the like.

FURTHER EMBODIMENTS

In embodiments of the present application thus far disclosed, it hasbeen presumed that the funeral professional 14 opts to join in with thedeceased call, either by way of the call-back call at 509 (FIG. 5) orthe call-out call of 603 (FIG. 6). As may be appreciated, ‘joining in’as employed here implies announcing the presence of the funeralprofessional 14 to the calling party 12, as well as the funeralprofessional participating in the conversation with the calling party12. As was noted, though, the funeral professional 14 may decide thatimmediate participation and involvement is not needed and/or advisable,such as for example if the deceased call was expected, or if the funeralprofessional 14 decides that joining in would be unwelcome, unexpected,jarring, confusing, or the like to the calling client 12, among otherthings. Instead, the funeral professional 14 may merely wish to monitorthe deceased call without joining in. Such an option to monitor withoutjoining in may be implemented by way of a vocalized menu system or thelike, as may be appreciated.

Presuming that the funeral professional 14 in fact wishes to monitor thecall without joining in, the computing system 16 again communicativelycouples the deceased call and the call-back or call-out call to form thecoupled call, as at 511 and 605, and also places the call-back orcall-out call in a mute mode so that the funeral professional 14 canhear the deceased call but cannot be heard in the deceased call, as at513 and 607. Thus, and again, the funeral professional 14 on thecall-back or call-out call can listen to the deceased call while inprogress by way of the coupled call. Here, though, the agent at theanswering service 10 need not and likely is not notified by thecomputing system 16 that the call-back or call-out call is in progress,as at 515 and 609, presumably for the reason that the agent need not bedistracted by such a notification, especially if the funeralprofessional 14 is not joining in with the deceased call. If so, theagent is and remains unaware that the funeral professional 14 ismonitoring the deceased call.

If not joining in, though, the funeral professional 14 may neverthelesswish to speak afterward with the agent who handled the deceased call atissue. Note, though, that in prior embodiments, such an after-callconversation between the agent and the funeral professional was notavailable. In particular, in such prior embodiments, the ending of thedeceased call between the agent and the calling client 12 causes thecomputing system 16 to also end the corresponding call-back or call-outcall to which the funeral professional 14 is attached. As should beappreciated, the computing system 16 in ending the call-back or call-outcall prevents the funeral professional from speak with the agent, atleast in an immediate manner. At best, the funeral professional 14 mayhave to call back the answering service 10 and then, if available as anoption, negotiate an automated system to locate and speak with theagent, presuming of course that the agent is not otherwise occupied byanother deceased call. At worst, such as an option is simply notavailable.

Accordingly, in various embodiments of the present innovation, when thefuneral professional 14 is not joining in with the deceased call but isonly monitoring same, the funeral professional 14 is provided with anopportunity to speak afterward with the agent who handled the deceasedcall at issue. In particular, in such embodiments, the ending of thedeceased call between the agent and the calling client 12 is detected bythe computing system 16, after which the monitoring and ending of thedeceased call is announced to the agent and to the funeral professional14. Upon such announcement, then, the computing system 16 allows theagent and the funeral professional 14 to speak, perhaps by removing themute mode from the call-back or call-out call. Alternatively, thecomputing system 16 may allow the agent and/or the funeral professional14 to remove such mute mode. In any case, with such mute mode removed,the agent and the funeral professional 14 may then speak to one anotherregarding the ended deceased call, as appropriate.

Turning now to FIG. 7, it is seen that to effectuate such callmonitoring by the funeral professional 14 with the opportunity for thefuneral professional 14 to speak with the agent afterward, the computingsystem 16 effectuates a call-back call or a call-out call (hereinafter,‘professional call’) in a manner akin to that which was set forth abovein connection with FIGS. 5 and 6 (701). As before, the computing system16 gives the funeral professional 14 the option to decide whether tojoin in or to monitor the deceased call without joining in. Here, thefuneral professional 14 selects the option to monitor the deceased callwithout joining in, and the computing system 16 receives such a‘monitor-only’ option (703).

Thus, the computing system 16 communicatively couples the deceased calland the professional call to form the coupled call, as at 511 and 605(705), and also places the professional call in a mute mode so that thefuneral professional 14 can hear the deceased call but cannot be heardin the deceased call, as at 513 and 607 (707). As such, the funeralprofessional 14 on the professional call can listen to the deceased callwhile in progress by way of the coupled call. As was alluded to above,the agent at the answering service 10 need not necessarily be notifiedby the computing system 16 that the professional call is in progress, asat 515 and 609. However, such a notification may be provided if desiredby the answering service 10, in which case the notification may forexample be provided by way of an appropriate highlighted button in thedisplay 20 of FIG. 3.

Presuming that the agent is not in fact notified that the professionalcall is in progress in the mute mode, and as was set forth above, theagent is and remains unaware that the funeral professional 14 ismonitoring the deceased call, and therefore may concentrate on thedeceased call without the distraction of such a notification. As was setforth above, although not joined in, the funeral professional 14 maynevertheless wish to speak afterward with the agent who handled thedeceased call at issue.

Accordingly, the computing system 16 detects the end of the deceasedcall between the agent and the calling client 12 (709). Such detectionmay be performed in any appropriate manner without departing from thespirit and scope of the present innovation. For example, the computingsystem 16 may include a dedicated system for doing so, or may implementfunctionality already present in another system. Such end of calldetection is generally known and therefore need not be set forth hereinin any detail.

Upon detecting the end of the deceased call, and in various embodiments,the computing system 16 does not also end the corresponding professionalcall to which the funeral professional 14 is attached. Instead, in suchembodiments, the computing system automatically notifies at least thefuneral professional 14 and perhaps also the agent that the deceasedcall has ended (711), and also notifies at least the agent and perhapsalso the funeral professional 14 that the funeral professional 14 isavailable and wishes to speak to the agent regarding the ended deceasedcall (713). Such notification may be performed in any appropriate mannerwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present innovation.For example, the computing system 16 may aurally play an appropriatemessage in the professional call that can be heard at least by thefuneral professional 14 if not the agent also, and/or may visuallydisplay an appropriate message or indicator to the agent at the display20 (FIG. 3). Concurrently, the computing system 16 also removes the mutemode from the professional call (715) so that the agent can hear thefuneral professional 14. Alternately, the agent may remove such mutemode by way of an appropriate agent action. In either case, removing themute mode allows the agent and the funeral professional to converse witheach other (717). Thus, and again, the funeral professional 14 whileinitially monitoring the deceased call but not joining in can speakafterward with the agent who handled the deceased call.

In a variation of the embodiments set forth above in connection withFIG. 7, the funeral professional 14 speaks afterward with the agent forthe reason that the deceased call ended prior to the funeralprofessional 14 being able to speak with the calling client 12. That isto say, the funeral professional 14 was not necessarily opting tomonitor the deceased call but instead wished to join in, though was notable to do so because the deceased call ended prior to the joining-inbeing completed. Reasons for the deceased call being ended in such amanner are many and varied, but typically involve the calling client 12accidentally disconnecting the deceased call, the deceased call endingprior to the funeral professional 14 being fully integrated thereinto(i.e., prior to reaching 523 of FIG. 5 or 617 of FIG. 6), or the like.In any case, the funeral professional 14 on the professional call wouldstill appreciate being able to speak with the agent at issue, forreasons akin to those set forth above in connection with FIG. 7.

In such a variation, then, and turning now to FIG. 8, the ending of thedeceased call between the agent and the calling client 12 is detected bythe computing system 16 (801), and the computing system 16 determinesthat the funeral professional 14 was on the professional call and in theprocess of joining in, but had not done so (803). Such a determinationmay be performed in any appropriate manner and according to anycriteria. For example, such determination may be performed by noting theexistence of the professional call and the received option to join in(509 of FIG. 5 or 603 of FIG. 6), along with the failure to complete theremainder of the actions of such FIG. 5 or 6.

In any event, upon determining that the joining-in was not completed,the ending of the deceased call is announced to the agent and to thefuneral professional 14 as before, and the computing system 16 allowsthe agent and the funeral professional 14 to speak, again as before.Thus, the agent and the funeral professional 14 may then speak to oneanother regarding the ended deceased call, as appropriate.

In particular, and as seen in FIG. 8, upon detecting the end of thedeceased call, and in various embodiments, the computing system 16 doesnot also end the corresponding professional call to which the funeralprofessional 14 is attached. Instead, in such embodiments, the computingsystem automatically notifies at least the funeral professional 14 andperhaps also the agent that the deceased call has ended (805), and alsonotifies at least the agent and perhaps also the funeral professional 14that the funeral professional 14 is available and wishes to speak to theagent regarding the ended deceased call (807). As before, suchnotification may be performed in any appropriate manner withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present innovation. Forexample, the computing system 16 may aurally play an appropriate messagein the professional call that can be heard at least by the funeralprofessional 14 if not the agent also, and/or may visually display anappropriate message or indicator to the agent at the display 20 (FIG.3). Concurrently, the computing system 16 also removes the mute modefrom the professional call (if present) (809) so that the agent can hearthe funeral professional 14. Alternately, the agent may remove such mutemode by way of an appropriate agent action. In either case, the agentand the funeral professional can then converse with each other (811)regarding the deceased call.

In the embodiments set forth above in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8, thefuneral professional 14 may enter into the professional call in anyappropriate manner without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent innovation. For example, and as may have been alluded to above,the funeral professional 14 may establish a call-back call afterreceiving an electronic message by way of a data connection 24 of thecomputing system 16 of the answering system 10. In such a case, thecall-back call may be immediately recognized by the computing system 10as being from the funeral professional 14 and pertaining to a particulardeceased call, or may be accompanied by a call identifier entered by thefuneral professional 14 so as to allow the computing system 10 torecognize that the call-back call is from the funeral professional 14and pertains to a particular deceased call. Likewise, and as may havealso been alluded to above, the computing system 16 may establish acall-out call to the funeral professional 14 by way of the secondtelephone connection 22 of the computing system 16 of the answeringsystem 10.

In any such case, and in a variation of the present innovation, thecomputing system 16 may upon establishing the call-out call orrecognizing the call-back call present the funeral professional 14 withan aural menu or the like representing options available to the funeralprofessional 14. Such options may include the options set forth aboveand other options without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent innovation. As should be understood, the options may be numberedor otherwise individually identified and the funeral professional 14 mayactuate a particular option by entering the correspondingnumber/identifier on a key pad or the like, or if especially involvedmay be accessed by the funeral professional 14 drilling down into amulti-level menu of options, again perhaps by entering correspondingnumbers/identifiers. For example, the options may include:

-   -   Speak with agent—this option may for example cause the agent to        place the caller on hold and speak with the funeral professional        14. Thus, the agent may for example relate to the funeral        professional 14 details already obtained from the caller.    -   Request introduction to caller—this option may for example cause        the agent to immediately introduce the funeral professional 14        to the caller without placing the caller on hold.    -   Enter into conversation with caller immediately—this option may        for example immediately connect the funeral professional 14 and        the caller in an un-muted mode.

CONCLUSION

The programming believed necessary to effectuate the processes performedby the computing system 16 in connection with the various embodiments ofthe present innovation is relatively straight-forward and should beapparent to the relevant programming public. Accordingly, suchprogramming is not attached hereto. Any particular programming, then,may be employed to effectuate the various embodiments of the presentinnovation without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

In the present innovation, a method and mechanism are set forth forproviding enhanced answering services in a time-sensitive manner,particularly where the answering services are funereal in nature. Uponrecognizing that a calling client 12 is a [funeral] caller initiallycalling regarding professional services of a funeral professional 14 fora deceased, the answering service 10 automatically initiates contactwith the funeral professional 14, even before the deceased call has beenterminated. Upon establishing a connection with the funeral professional14, be it a call-out or call-back call, such funeral professional 14 canbe introduced to the calling client 12 by way of a coupled call and cantake over from the agent, the better to be able to directly comfort thegrieving calling client 12 and also the better to be able to directlycollect any additional information needed. Alternately, the funeralprofessional 14 can monitor the deceased call without joining in, andcan speak with the agent after the deceased call has ended.

It should be appreciated that changes could be made to the embodimentsdescribed above without departing from the innovative concepts thereof.For example, although the present innovation is set forth primarily interms of a funeral business or the like, such innovation may also bepracticed by any other appropriate type of business or called party thatwould prefer to employ enhanced answering services to calling clients 12or other calling parties so as to be in direct contact with such callingclients 12 or other calling parties in an expedited manner when anurgent situation arises. Thus, in such a broader context, terms such as‘deceased call’, ‘funeral professional’, ‘funeral caller’ would moregenerally encompass any urgent call, any called professional that wouldservice the urgent call, and any caller, respectively.

Moreover, although the present innovation is set forth primarily interms of telephonic calls or the like from initial callers, suchinnovation may also be practiced by in connection with any otherappropriate type of communications medium and other types of callers,perhaps with suitable modification. Likewise, although the presentinnovation is set forth with reference to the use of a script 26, suchscript 26 need not necessarily be employed, in which case the call maybe answered in a free-form manner, with suitable modification. It shouldbe understood, therefore, that this innovation is not limited to theparticular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to covermodifications within the spirit and scope of the present innovation asdefined by the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method performed by an answering serviceon behalf of a called party when a calling party places an incoming callto the called party and the called party is unable or unwilling toanswer the incoming call directly, the method being performed by acomputing system of the answering service and comprising: answering theincoming call from the calling party on behalf of the called party byway of a first call connection of the computing system; allowing anagent at the answering service to converse with the calling party by wayof the incoming call; establishing contact with the called party by wayof a called party call on a second call connection of the computingsystem while the incoming call between the agent and the calling partyis still in progress by way of the first call connection of thecomputing system; receiving a signal from the called party for thecalled party to monitor the incoming call without joining in, and inresponse thereto communicatively coupling the called party call and theincoming call to form a coupled call; and detecting a disconnection ofthe monitored incoming call between the agent at the answering serviceand the calling party, and in response thereto: notifying at least thecalled party that the incoming call at the answering service has ended;notifying at least the agent at the answering service that the calledparty is available and wishes to speak to the agent regarding the endedincoming call; and allowing the agent at the answering service and thecalled party to converse with each other over the called party call,wherein the called party while initially monitoring the incoming callbut not joining in can speak afterward with the agent at the answeringservice who handled the incoming call, wherein the computing systemestablishing contact with the called party by automatically sending anelectronic message to an address of the called party by way of a dataconnection of the computing system, the message including a call-backtelephone number by which the called party can place a call-back call toa second telephone connection of the computing system.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the call is a telephone call.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein the called party is a funeral professional and the calling partyis a client calling the funeral professional regarding obtaining funeralservices for a deceased.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the computingsystem establishes contact with the called party by automaticallyplacing an outgoing call to a telephone number of the called party byway of a second telephone connection of the computing system.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising notifying the agent that thecoupled called party call is in progress.
 6. The method of claim 1comprising notifying at least the called party that the incoming callhas ended by way of an aural message played over the called party call.7. The method of claim 1 comprising notifying at least the agent thatthe called party is available and wishes to speak to the agent regardingthe ended incoming call by way of an aural message played over thecalled party call.
 8. The method of claim 1 comprising notifying atleast the agent that the called party is available and wishes to speakto the agent regarding the ended incoming call by way of a visualmessage displayed to the agent on a display thereof.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 comprising: receiving a signal from the called party for thecalled party to monitor the incoming call without joining in, and inresponse thereto: communicatively coupling the called party call and theincoming call to form a coupled call; and placing the called party callin a mute mode so that the called party can hear the incoming call butcannot be heard in the incoming call; and detecting a disconnection ofthe monitored incoming call between the agent and the calling party, andin response thereto: notifying at least the called party that theincoming call has ended; notifying at least the agent that the calledparty is available and wishes to speak to the agent regarding the endedincoming call; removing the mute mode from the called party call so thatthe agent can hear the called party; and allowing the agent and thecalled party to converse with each other over the called party call. 10.A method performed by an answering service on behalf of a called partywhen a calling party places an incoming call to the called party and thecalled party is unable or unwilling to answer the incoming calldirectly, the method being performed by a computing system of theanswering service and comprising: answering the incoming call from thecalling party on behalf of the called party by way of a first callconnection of the computing system; allowing an agent at the answeringservice to converse with the calling party by way of the incoming call;establishing contact with the called party by way of a called party callon a second call connection of the computing system while the incomingcall between the agent and the calling party is still in progress by wayof the first call connection of the computing system; receiving a signalfrom the called party for the called party to join in conversation withthe calling party; detecting a disconnection of the incoming callbetween the agent at the answering service and the calling party priorto joining the called party in conversation with the calling party, andin response thereto: notifying at least the called party that theincoming call was disconnected; notifying at least the agent at theanswering service that the called party is available and wishes to speakto the agent regarding the disconnected incoming call; and allowing theagent at the answering service and the called party to converse witheach other over the called party call, wherein the called party canspeak with the agent at the answering service who handled the incomingcall, wherein the computing system establishing contact with the calledparty by automatically sending an electronic message to an address ofthe called party by way of a data connection of the computing system,the message including a call-back telephone number by which the calledparty can place a call-back call to a second telephone connection of thecomputing system.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the call is atelephone call.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the called party is afuneral professional and the calling party is a client calling thefuneral professional regarding obtaining funeral services for adeceased.
 13. The method of claim 10 wherein the computing systemestablishes contact with the called party by automatically placing anoutgoing call to a telephone number of the called party by way of asecond telephone connection of the computing system.
 14. The method ofclaim 10 further comprising notifying the agent that the called partycall was in progress.
 15. The method of claim 10 comprising notifying atleast the called party that the incoming call was disconnected by way ofan aural message played over the called party call.
 16. The method ofclaim 10 comprising notifying at least the agent that the called partyis available and wishes to speak to the agent regarding the disconnectedcall by way of an aural message played over the called party call. 17.The method of claim 10 comprising notifying at least the agent that thecalled party is available and wishes to speak to the agent regarding thedisconnected incoming call by way of a visual message displayed to theagent on a display thereof.